


I, Monster

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fallen Heroes, Gen, POV First Person, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Themes of bigotry, Villain PoV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 01:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: On the battlefield, two former friends turned enemies are reunited.





	I, Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: First person narration

 

  
They say I can tear apart humans with my bare hands.

I wouldn't dream of it, not unless it was necessary, of course. They call me the villain, but in the end, I'm merely doing what I can -- preserving my kind so they'll never be hurt again. We were part of a hunt that none of us wanted, part of a hunt that none of us dreamed of.

When we first joined the Academy, we were hopeful creatures. We had heard of the Monster Hunter, but he had been on the outside of our vision, a distant boogeyman. The sort that we heard stories about, but we never really saw. Of course we made up little speculations about him. Things like him being a creature of unspeakable ugliness, a creature with stretching, striking tentacles, a creature with seven heads...all of which sounded ridiculous without a doubt, of course, but such were the things whispered around campfires back when I was small.

We made up all sorts of stories. Now, it seems, facing one of my old friends from the Academy, Lisa, that I am about to become one of those stories.

She is not that old, and yet there is something in her face that suggests a sort of loneliness and anguish that someone much older has endured. She looks at me and speaks.

"Daniel."

"Are first names that important to you?" I say. I can remember something that my master taught me. _People place undue importance on names, child._ It was her reason for not telling me her name. To this day I do not know her name.

"It is your name," Lisa says. "You wouldn't do this, Daniel. Come home."

Coming home is far from an option. I have left that behind long ago. When I set out on this journey if only to slay the monster who was going after my people, I knew that slaying monsters did not stop with one. Slaying monsters was never a thing that was truly finished.

They say that monsters are like my kind -- shifting with the wind. But I know that the true monsters wear human faces.

"I have too much to do," I say. "I've come too far."

Not far from us, a young woman, probably one of the Academy's new recruits, watches us, seeming to be rooted to the spot, fascinated. She seems familiar and yet...who is she, really?

"Do you have to do this anymore, Daniel?" Lisa gestures towards the burning town behind me. Behind me, my men are fighting the opposing side, the human side. The human side is fighting, but they are losing. Daniel would have cared. The Wolf Emperor, on the other hand, only takes comfort in the fact that his people will be safe, protected from the humans.

I have come too far. I cannot stop now. Even against Lisa. Even against someone I, dare I say it, care for.

"If it keeps my people safe."

"It won't keep anyone safe! Do you know what it's causing?"

This isn't a battle of claws and teeth, then. It's a battle of words and views, her trying to convince me that I am wrong and she is right. But I have chosen my path long ago.

I am right, she is wrong. That is simply how it is.

"A better world," I say. "For us. For you."

She shakes her head. "These people are -- "

"There are no innocents!" I don't know how she can keep that level of delusion in place. But she does. Her face is older but her eyes are the same -- young, naive, full of hope.

"So this is it?" Lisa's voice is icy. "You'd go that far, Daniel? You would say something that disgusting, that cruel?"

"It's the truth."

  
"I don't believe you," she says. Her voice is quiet, soft. "I can't."

"It is the truth."

But in all honesty, is she interested in that? At all?

I will have to fight her. There is no other alternative.

When we do fight, I am reminded of when we dueled, of sorts, at the Academy. Of course, that was all for practice. This...this is all real. Too real. I should not have to duel Lisa. In an ideal world, she would have come with me to bring peace to our race.

She didn't have to stay with the humans, not truly.

She could have come with me, but she chose them. And that is what fuels my fury even as I duel her, even as we shift to our animal forms, her lioness to my wolf -- she betrayed me, she betrayed our people, and for what? Did she think that the humans would forgive her? Did she think they would accept her?

We are not kind to the other. We claw and tear and bite, intent on demolishing the other. We are intent on making sure that the other does not win. She is getting better, but I have my anger, and my anger makes me strong.

The student from the Academy rushes into the fray. She is intent on defending Lisa. And it is then that I see her. She has Lisa's face, her mate's eyes. The last time I saw her...no, I never saw her. But I heard of her. Alanna, they were going to call her. Another birth I missed out on while I was off doing my duty.

This is Alanna. And now she joins the fray. She chooses a wolf shape, like mine. I can't help but feel a twinge of pride; she has taken at least something from me, however small. And she is skilled, there is no doubt about that. She is astounding, actually. But even she can't hold out forever. It takes a while, including her giving me marks I know full well will scar, but I knock her to the ground, badly wounded, bleeding.

I don't like it, of course. But to defend myself, to defend my people --

A furious roar from Lisa and I am all but blinded by blood. We fight, though my vision is impaired, and she eventually beats me to the ground as I did Alanna. I have failed my people. I will be captured -- but I will not let the humans find and slaughter my people. I cannot and will not. I promised. Darkness swims up to meet me, and all goes black.


End file.
